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The impulse of nature was to attack that city; to try upon its bulwarks the skill of military science, as then understood, as by them possessed. The power of faith was shown in curbing that impulse; in submitting to an unexplained, unintelligible, severely trying, edict of inactivity; nay, in consenting to play what must have seemed a ridiculous part in the face of a warlike and disciplined host waiting to see what this intrusive, this presumptuous horde of rovers had to say for itself. How often has the Church, as a body, failed to understand the duty of refraining! How often has she rushed headlong upon some dimly-descried or imaginary Jericho with weapons quite carnal! What shall we say of the religious press, of the religious platform, of the religious controversy, of the religious conversation, so called, of this present age and country? Is it not a matter of simple fact, of sorrowful notoriety, that the armour, whether of attack or of defence, worn in this warfare, is of precisely the same material, and the same make, and all but the same colour, with that of the world's quarrels and the world's antagonisms? Certainly if the giant Jericho of this world, with its lying vanities, its covert or open infidelities, its harmful lusts, its crying sins, is ever to be brought low before the revealed presence of Jesus Christ, it will not be by the use against it of weapons forged in its own workshops — weapons of sarcasm and invective, weapons of strife and debate, weapons of insinuation and repartee, weapons of rhetoric and oratory, weapons of man's wisdom or man's strength. It will be — and, in whatever degree that victory has been foreshadowed, it always has been — by the quiet march, round the walls and towers of human pride and human luxury and human sin, of the ark of the holy covenant, of the Word and Sacraments of the New Testament, ministered and heralded by devout and devoted pastors, "showing out of a good conversation their works with meekness of wisdom." And if this be true on the large scale, and with reference to ages and nations and communities, how must it be with individuals? How large a part of the action of faith, viewed as an instrument, as an influence, as a power, for God, lies, in their case also, in refraining! Show me the Christian wife, the Christian sister, the Christian daughter, who knows how to refrain, and I will predict for her an eventual success in influencing the husband, the brother, the father, towards her gospel. Not to answer again — not to urge matters of discord — not to insist on externals — not to wear a look of offence — not to irritate by a disdainful composure — not to speak against faulty but loved ones as though exiled from sympathy — always to pray, never to faint — seeking refuge, when refuge is necessary, from the strife of tongues, not in isolation, not in moroseness, but in the sweet tabernacle of God's Presence — this sort of refraining, within the walls of homes, is worth all the "testifying "in the world for Christ against evil — nay, it is the noblest and the highest and the most ancient of testimonies — "by faith," thus refraining, the walls of Jericho fell, not undermined, and not assaulted, but just encompassed for seven days.

(Dean Vaughan.)

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KJV: By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.

WEB: By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been encircled for seven days.